Restaurant Advice * Tip One: Don't Tip The Mariachi Band

[Oliveloaf]

So, wife got older over the weekend, so the kid and I took her to a local Mexican place for dinner.

Sorta un-challenging traditional Americanized Mexican fare, but very, very good.

And while I usually hate when this happens at other tables, I thought a rousing round of "Happy Birthday" as performed by the roving Mariachi guitarists would be an amusing cap to the evening.

My bad.

It was fun, for a song. I went wrong by tipping the guys. Apparently my tip was interpreted as a contract to continue playing for the next, oh, 25 minutes.

We all felt too self conscious to eat--as the whole (likely annoyed) restaurant watched us...so our food got cold while the guys raged on, singing American standards in Spanish. "Take a Letter, Maria" is a strange song to sing to a couple dining with their kid.

I'm more amused than anything. But it's funny how these guys--no doubt seen as a huge value-add by the restaurants owners--have the power to ruin dinner.



Dining Tip Two?

[What Exit?]

Honestly, I would have signalled them over and asked them to move along.

Dining Tip Two: Look if the food is bad, the service is bad and the environment is bad, it really is OK to not tip. That really is what the tip is about. The tip is not mandatory and this is from someone that tips 20% plus almost all the time and we eat out too often.

[Glazer]

The problem is they feel you did not tip enough. Mariachi bands are a racket. They come and stand over you and play bad music at you until you pay them to leave. Or pay someone else to take them out back, permanently!